One of Sydney’s oldest Japanese restaurants reopens – with something special up its sleeve

One of Sydney’s most long-serving Japanese restaurants, Azuma, has reopened on Philip Street with an omakase bar helmed by sushi master Takashi Sano.

Sano has amassed over three decades of experience as a sushi chef, including an eight-year stint at hatted restaurant Sokyo and repeated residencies at Tokyo restaurant Hakkoku, with one of Japan’s most acclaimed chefs, Hiroyuki Sato.

On August 6, Sano will resume the $300 per person, seven-seat, 26-course omakase experience he began at Azuma last year, when it was located inside the Chifley Tower.

High demand means reservations (available via email to the restaurant) can be difficult to come by, with a long wait list and priority given to diners with an elusive “membership”.

Azuma was founded by chef Kimitaka Azuma and wife Yuki in Crows Nest in 1996, and its latest evolution is an intimate 47-seat restaurant with a bold rust-red exterior and a minimalist dining room accentuated by modern art.

As head chef, Azuma has become known for his $300 per person, multi-course kaiseki menu, showcasing seasonal and locally sourced seafood, including Tasmanian lobster and abalone.

But there are alternative options for every day dining, including an a la carte menu and an $88 four-course lunch menu.

Azuma opens for lunch from 12pm Tue-Fri and for dinner from 6pm Tue-Fri and from 5.30pm Sat.

167 Phillip Street, Sydney, azuma.com.au

Some cheese with your tea? Pioneering Chinese boba tea chain is coming to Sydney

Pioneering Chinese tea drink chain Hey Tea plans to launch its first Sydney store on Friday, July 26, with a buy-one-get-one-free deal during opening weekend.

The bubble (or boba) tea shop was among the first to use “cheese foam” in its drinks: a creamy, foamy mixture of cream cheese, milk and salt layered on top of iced fruity, milky or herbal teas.

Hey Tea’s cheese tea became a national, then international, sensation. It was considered a premium addition to the market for using fresh milk and tea, rather than their powdered equivalents, which were prevalent at the time.

From opening its first shop in a Jiangmen alleyway in 2012, the brand has expanded to more than 4000 outlets across 300 cities in Asia, Europe, the US and Australia (Melbourne opened its first store last year). Some launches attract queues of up to two hours.

The menu at Hey Tea’s George Street venue will feature best-selling drinks like supreme brown sugar bobo milk tea (red blosson tea with milk and slow cooked brown sugar boba) and cheese grape boom (grapes in iced Jasmine green tea with a light cheese topping).

“With the growing popularity of bubble tea in Australia and the increasing demand for high-quality tea beverages, we are excited to bring our signature flavours and creative concepts to Sydney,” a spokesperson for the brand told Good Food.

The drinks chain will face tough competition in Sydney, where the industry has grown to over 150 stores in recent years. In addition to global chains such as CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice and Gong Cha, there are Australian-owned small businesses like Knit Cha (Chatswood), Bubble Nini (Chippendale) and No Fail (CBD and Burwood).

The opening deals are set to continue beyond the first weekend, with buy one get one half off available from Monday, July 29 and Thursday, August 2.

569 George Street, Sydney, heytea.com

Say hola to Comedor, a 100-year-old Newtown warehouse transformed into a contemporary Mexican restaurant

A 100-year-old Newtown warehouse has been transformed into a contemporary Mexican restaurant, Comedor, helmed by Noma-trained head chef Alejandro Huerta.

Huerta has created a bold menu, drawing on the traditions of his family home in Puebla, his experiences working in high-end Mexico City restaurants such as Pujol, and his discovery of small NSW producers while working at Sydney restaurants like El Primo Sanchez in Paddington.

When the restaurant opens on July 10, he’ll be serving dishes such as Skull Island tiger prawns, grilled and doused with clam and morita (chilli salsa) sauce on made-to-order tortillas; linguine tossed with pipis and chilpachole (seafood stew) butter; and charred slices of Marrickville-made Goldstreet Dairy jersey cheese served with salsa roja and nopales (cactus pads).

“I love my culture and Mexican food, but I don’t like doing the same thing everyone else is doing,” Huerta says.

“I want to make sure Comedor is seen as a place where you go to have a great time and experience new flavours, and I’m looking forward to being able to really show who I am and what I’m passionate about.”

The warehouse has become warm and welcoming, with earthy finishes, natural light, a five-metre stone bar, and a big shared dining table to encourage a sense of community.

It’s also versatile, able to accommodate after-work drinks (happy hour from 3-5pm has half-price tap beer and house wine and discounted snacks); long lunches (a three-course chef’s menu lunch is only $35); and an elevated dinner experience (dinner set menu is $79 a head).

Huerta has paired with Kieran Took (ex-Tio’s and Big Poppa’s), who has created a drinks menu showcasing agave and lesser-known Mexican spirits such as Flor Del Desierto Veneno (a plant-based spirit aged in bourbon barrels with rattlesnake venom), and wines from forward-thinking producers.

Open Sun & Wed noon-5pm, Thu-Sat noon-10pm.

182 Australia Street, Newtown, instagram.com/comedor.newtown

Try classic duck a l’orange at this new-look, two-hatted CBD restaurant

Two-hatted CBD venue Monopole has changed direction, from contemporary Australian wine bar to refined French restaurant.

Owners Nick Hildebrandt and Brent Savage of The Bentley Restaurant Group (King Clarence, Bentley Restaurant and Bar), debuted Monopole’s new look and menu on July 2.

“The space feels refined, the wines and broader beverages are heavily French, and Brent has designed a menu of French classics done our way,” says Hildebrandt.

The restaurant’s reimagined interior, from long-term collaborator Pascale Gomes-McNabb, has a luxurious, Parisienne feel with velvet curtains and eclectic art, including vintage wine-fair posters and cross-stitched portraits.

The classical French menu features dishes such as fish quenelle (poached fish quenelle with red fish bisque, $26), chicken vol-au-vent (Bannockburn chicken with Balmain bug and sweetcorn, $34) and duck a l’orange (half dry-aged duck with Dutch carrots, spinach and orange sauce, $66).

The wine list, curated by Hildebraandt, draws from the Champagne, Alsace and Burgundy regions, with a selection of Chartreuse cocktails.

Book in at lunch, or before 6pm, to take advantage of a two-course set menu for $55 a head.

Open Tue 5pm-10pm, Wed-Fri noon-10pm, Sat 5pm-11pm.

16-20 Curtin Place, Sydney, bentleyrestaurantgroup.com.au

Find $8 Guadalajara-style tacos at this standing-room taqueria

Tacos Tacos Tacos is a tiny, no-frills Potts Point taqueria led by Guadalajaran-born chef Joe Valero.

It’s the latest venture from Phil Stenvall and Greg Bampton, the duo behind neighbouring wine bar Caravin and the now-closed Bar Suze in Surry Hills.

“[It’s a] a true Mexican taqueria: super casual vibe, fast, fun and delicious,” Stenvall says. That means no reservations, standing-room-only inside, and 20 fold-out chairs in the laneway.

The menu is scrawled on a blackboard: six tacos ($8 each), with fillings such as beef suadero with salsa morita, or cactus and frijoles, all on corn tortillas; one side like guac’ and totopos (tortilla chips; $12); and a couple of non-alcoholic drinks like agua fresca and hibiscus yerba mate ($8).

Stenvell says they were inspired by Valero, who worked at Latin America’s 50 Best restaurant Alcade, and wanted to return to cooking the Mexican food he’d grown up with.

“The tacos Joe is making are rooted in tradition and authenticity … the way they do it in Mexico, no twists or fusions, just straight-up delicious tacos − the way they’ve always been made,” Stenvell says.

A liquor licence is in the works.

Open Tue-Sat 4.30-8.30pm.

46 Llankelly Place, Potts Point, instagram.com/tacostacostacospottspoint

Popular Via Napoli opens inner-east spin-off

Roman pizza is conquering Sydney. In the past year, it’s hit the menu at Self Raised Snack Shoppe in Bexley North, and is served by the slice at new takeaway pizzerias Ta Ta Ta (Bondi Junction) and Merivale’s Oti(CBD).

Now, it’s the focus of Via Napoli’s new sister restaurant, 170 Grammi, a casual, neighbourhood pizzeria with a walk-in bar for after-work Americanos.

Crunchy, thin Roman-style bases are a departure from the authentic Neapolitan style Via Napoli has championed at its Lane Cove restaurant since 2011.

“[We’re] using the traditional la tonda scrocchiarella Romana or round style that was popular in the 1950s,” says owner Luigi Esposito, who has created a selection of toppings based on pasta sauces such as cacio e pepe and carbonara.

Good to know: The wine list focuses on affordability, with no bottles priced over $65.

Must-try: For dessert, there’s classic Roman maritozzi: light brioche buns filled with fresh whipped cream ($12).

Open Wed-Thu 5-10pm; Fri-Sun noon-10pm.

428 Crown Street, Surry Hills, 170grammi.com.au

Tokyo Lamington expands to Marrickville

Tokyo Lamington opened its second Sydney cafe on June 15, bringing its colourful and unconventional lamingtons (in flavours such as yuzu meringue, Vietnamese iced coffee, and tres leches) to Marrickville’s burgeoning hospitality scene.

Owners Eddie Stewart and Min Chai took seven weeks to renovate the space, which formerly housed ONA coffee. It’s more than twice the size of the original Newtown store, and filled with morning sunlight, jazz and mid-century couches.

The menu is larger, too. Over the next few weeks they’ll add a new range of focaccias (loaded with lap cheong pork sausage and chilli, for example) and pastries (such as croissants and chocolate eclairs) to their existing range of onigiri, pies and sausage rolls. But the most exciting part may be the launch of their first lamington croissant, set to drop about mid-July.

Good to know: The cafe is dog-friendly and a short walk from the Sydenham Metro Line Station, which is set to open towards the end of winter.

Must order: The cheesecake lamington ($7.80), which uses ricotta from new neighbours Paesanella Cheese.

Open daily 7am-3pm.

140 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, tokyolamington.com

Tenacious Bakehouse rebrands, adds pizza

Innovative Darlinghurst baker Yeongjin Park (the man behind the viral onigiri croissants and miso caramel Portuguese tarts) has reopened his Oxford Street cafe after a sleek renovation and rebrand. Tenacious Bakehouse has become Tenacious, a pastry-forward cafe by day, and pizza joint by night.

Much like Park’s pastries, which are known for fusing traditional baking techniques with Asian flavours, his pizza is wholly unique to Sydney: the dough is “light and chewy, like mochi” (pounded rice with a satisfying, stretchy quality), with toppings inspired by popular Korean dishes such as haemul pajeon (seafood pancake, with prawns, squid, green onions and garlic chives) and dakgalbi (chicken and vegetables with a spicy gochujang-based sauce and melted cheese).

The contemporary minimalist space seats 20 people, and is walk-in only.

Good to know: Pastries will be served directly from the kitchen, rather than the counter, as Park works to elevate the eating experience.

Must order: Corn cheese croissant ($10).

Open daily 8am-3.30pm (bakehouse) and 5-10pm (pizza).

101 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, tenaciouscroissant.com.au